Kiernan Ryan on 'Othello'
Kiernan Ryan’s new overview of Shakespeare’s tragic oeuvre is magisterial and consistently interesting. Here are some notes on his chapter on Othello.
Read MoreJoel Coen's 'Macbeth'
Joel Cohen’s visually-stunning version of Macbeth is a consistently interesting addition to the conversation we have been having with this play for hundreds of years.
Read MoreJames Harpur's 'The Examined Life'
James Harpur’s collection The Examined Life is a highly pleasurable sequence of poems recalling his time in an English boarding school in the 1970s.
Read MoreMy Books of 2021
My choice of the best new (and some old) books I read this year.
Read MoreBooks of the Year lists, 2021
My annual summary of highlights of Books of the Year features in the media.
Read MoreWilliam Wall's 'Smugglers in the Underground Hug Trade'
William Wall’s new book of poems tells the story of a strange year, moving from Italy just before the pandemic started to life in County Cork, culminating in Christmas 2020.
Read MoreLeaving Certificate resources 2022
Links to helpful resources for teachers and candidates heading towards the 2022 Leaving Certificate in English.
Read More'Afterlives' by Abdulrazak Gurnah
The most recent novel by the 2021 Nobel Laureate, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Afterlives (2020), entirely justifies the Nobel Committee’s choice.
Read MoreDeborah Levy's Living Autobiography
Across the three terrific books which make up her ‘living autobiography’, Deborah Levy opens up to us the mind of a writer with honesty, sharp humour and enormous skill.
Read MoreOn The Fortnightly
A few notes on The Fortnightly newsletter.
Read MoreClaire Keegan's 'Small Things Like These'
Claire Keegan’s marvellous Small Things Like Us is a deeply moving portrait of a man’s life in mid-1980s Ireland, a superb follow-up to her masterpiece of a long short story, Foster.
Read More'Othello' Quizlet - the whole play
There is a revision series using quotations from Othello, by Act: this set combines all those quotations into one Quizlet.
Read More'Othello' Quizlet - Act 5
The fifth in a revision series using quotations from Othello, by Act.
Read More'Othello' Quizlet - Act 4
The fourth in a revision series using quotations from Othello, by Act.
Read More'Othello's Secret: the Cyprus Problem' by R.M. Christofides
Othello’s Secret: the Cyprus Problem, by R.M. Christofides, is an unusual mixture of the academic and the personal, and a recommendation for anyone studying or teaching the play.
Read MoreRobert Eaglestone in 'Impact' 26
Professor Robert Eaglestone’s ‘Impact’ pamphlet number 26, is well-worth the attention of English teachers.
Read More'Othello' Quizlet 3
The third in a revision series using quotations from Othello, by Act.
Read MoreOthello: The Duke and the Turks in Act I scene iii
The short scene at the start of Act I scene iii, when the Duke and his advisors work out what to do about the Turkish fleet, prefigure significant issues in Othello: how to judge, how to weigh evidence, how to get to the truth.
Read More'Zikora' by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s short story ‘Zikora’, published by Amazon Kindle in October 2020, is a pleasure.
Read MoreOthello: the opening scene (Knowing and Satisfaction)
An analysis of the opening scene of Othello, looking at how Shakespeare presents us with ideas of how we can or can not ‘know’ truths, and how we can or can not be ‘satisfied.’
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